Prize-winning garden gifted to mental health trust

The garden was designed by Carolyn Hardern and Jon Jarvis

A £30,000 garden which won a prize at the RHS Flower Show at Tatton has been donated and rebuilt for mental health patients at a hospital in Blackpool.

Previously named the 1804 Garden, it was designed by Carolyn Hardern and Jon Jarvis and won silver at the show in 2023.

A scaled-down version of the circular garden, with a reflection pond and spherical steel sculpture at the centre, has now been gifted to The Harbour mental health hospital.

"We're absolutely delighted," Laura Holt, director of nursing at the Lancashire and South Cumbria NHS Foundation Trust (LSCft) said. "It's a lovely space and very tranquil."

The garden includes planters with wild flowers

The garden has four large, curved benches under Acer trees and more than 500 plants and flowers around the central water feature, with a spherical steel sculpture.

It was previously named the 1804 Garden, in reference to the first time melanoma was identified by René Laennec, and highlighted the cancer risk associated with working outdoors.

It has now been renamed the Hope Springs Garden and the hospital plans to run weekly gardening groups with staff and patients and hopes to extend the garden to other areas in the grounds.

LSCft chief executive, Chris Oliver, said the addition "will prove to be invaluable" for patients, their families and staff.

"As a mental health trust, we know the role that being outdoors and connecting with nature has on wellbeing – from reducing stress to improving mood and aiding rehabilitation," he said.

"Our thanks go to Carolyn and Jon for choosing us to host their design."

Designer Jon Jarvis said: "We really do hope the patients and NHS workers in Blackpool will enjoy spending time in the relaxing wellbeing garden."

In 2022, the designers won the Best in Show title with the Constructing Minds garden at Tatton, themed around mental health and raising awareness of suicide.

They donated it to Clatterbridge Hospital on Merseyside.